About Dry Grasses

About Dry Grasses is a 2023 Turkish-language drama film directed by Nuri Bilge Ceylan and co-written by Ceylan, Ebru Ceylan, and Akın Aksu. Starring Deniz Celiloğlu, Merve Dizdar and Musab Ekici, it follows a teacher working in rural eastern Anatolia with hopes of moving to Istanbul when he is accused of abusing a student. The film premiered in the main competition section of the 2023 Cannes Film Festival, where Dizdar won the Best Actress award. It was selected as the Turkish entry for the Best International Feature Film at the 96th Academy Awards. Plot Samet is a teacher who used to live in Istanbul but has been assigned to a post at a remote village in Eastern Anatolia for years. He comes back from holidays for the winter term. He and his co-worker and roommate Kenan are soon accused of inappropriate behavior by two female pupils. To Samet's dismay, one of them is Sevim, who has been so far a protégée of his. In parallel, both Samet and Kenan meet together, and then separately, Nuray, a teacher in a neighboring village. The latter has been the victim of a terrorist explosion some time before and misses a leg. Together they discuss the possibilities and limits of living in the region. While Kenan and Nuray seem to fall in love, Samet's attitude changes and he too begins to take interest in Nuray despite his first impression. Cast Deniz Celiloğlu as Samet Merve Dizdar as Nuray as Kenan Ece Bağcı as Sevim as Tolga as Vahit Münir Can Cindoruk as Feyyaz Onur Berk Arslanoğlu as Bekir Yıldırım Gücük as Director of Education Cengiz Bozkurt as Nail S. Emrah Özdemir as Sergeant as Assistant Principal Saime Elit Andaç Çam as Firdevs as Kevser Ferhat Akgün as Guidance Counselor Atakan as Halime Production About Dry Grasses is Ceylan's ninth feature length film, and his tenth overall. He co-wrote the script with his wife Ebru Ceylan and Akın Aksu; they also co-wrote Ceylan's previous film, The Wild Pear Tree (2018). The script took around two years to complete, and filming began in March 2021 in Erzurum; nature shots were also filmed in Adıyaman. Kürşat Üresin and Cehavir Şahin served as the film's cinematographers. About Dry Grasses received funding of €470,000 from the European Council's Eurimages fund, in addition to ₺2 million from Turkey's Ministry of Culture and Tourism.